Novak Djokovic beats Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5!
Djokovic is serving for the match and he earns two match points, pinging a forehand down the line. He only needs one, Berdych blocking a return into the net. It’s over. Djokovic will turn his attention to Saturday’s semi-final against Rafael Nadal. That could be special. Thanks for reading. Night.
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Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 6-5 Berdych* (*denotes server): The crowd sighs sympathetically as Berdych double-faults at 0-40. Djokovic has three break points. He breaks at the second time of asking and will serve for the match.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-3, 5-5 Berdych (*denotes server): Djokovic serves to keep the set alive. He keeps the set alive.
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Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 4-5 Berdych* (*denotes server): Berdych continues his exceptional serving and a hold to love means Djokovic will have to serve to stay in the set.
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Second set: Djokovic* 6-3, 4-4 Berdych (*denotes server): A stress-free hold for Djokovic. I suspect we all know which way this is heading.
Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 3-4 Berdych* (*denotes server): Berdych skedaddles into a 40-0 lead. He ends up holding to 30, but he’ll take that.
Second set: Djokovic* 6-3, 3-3 Berdych (*denotes server): Djokovic has become a little sloppy, letting go of a 40-15 lead and letting the game go to deuce. But every time Berdych has hope, Djokovic extinguishes it.
Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 2-3 Berdych* (*denotes server): Berdych is ahead on the scoreboard for the first time in a set. He’s started to serve brilliantly and the crowd likes what it’s watching again.
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Second set: Djokovic* 6-3, 2-2 Berdych (*denotes server): Hang on! A dip in concentration from Djokovic allows Berdych to seize a break point when he was 30-15 down. He attacks a second serve and monsters a forehand away to level the second set.
Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 2-1 Berdych* (*denotes server): Berdych stays in the set, holding to love with an ace. He’s fighting a losing battle, though. There’s only pride in this for him now.
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Second set: Djokovic* 6-3, 2-0 Berdych (*denotes server): Djokovic consolidates the break and holds to 15.
Second set: Djokovic 6-3, 1-0 Berdych* (*denotes server): The fear is that Berdych is going to collapse in this set now that his exit from the tournament has been confirmed. He can’t be feeling too good about himself when Djokovic taunts him with a spinning drop shot on the first point, or when he drags a forehand wide for 0-30, or when he nets a forehand for 0-40. He does cheer up when he batters down an ace. Djokovic then cracks a return long. Then Berdych double-faults. The crowd is silent.
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Novak Djokovic wins the first set 6-3 and qualifies for the semi-final!
Djokovic quickly strides into a 30-0 lead. Berdych looks pained. That non-challenge, how pivotal does that look now? Maybe it would be better if no one tells him that was in afterwards. Djokovic finds himself with two set points and although he fritters away the first by knocking a backhand long, Berdych hands him the set by jamming a backhand return, the ball looping long. Djokovic will play Rafael Nadal in the first semi-final on Saturday.
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First set: Djokovic 5-3 Berdych* (*denotes server): At 30-15 the camera picks out Tomas Berdych’s dad in the crowd. They look pretty similar. Probably because they’re related. Moments later, Berdych fizzes a forehand past Djokovic. It’s called out and he doesn’t challenge. A replay shows it clipped the line and Berdych loses the next point when he whistles a backhand wide to make it 30-40! Will he live to regret that non-challenge? He gets it to deuce with some forceful play, but it could have been 40-15 and soon he has to deal with another break point after a rasping forehand from Djokovic. Berdych does deal with it, curving a brilliant ace down the middle, only to net a forehand on the next point. This time Djokovic returns a big wide serve and Berdych thrashes a forehand volley into the net. Djokovic will serve for the first set and a place in the last four.
First set: Djokovic* 4-3 Berdych (*denotes server): Djokovic appears to be gliding towards another hold when he leads 40-15, yet he lets Berdych back in as he lowers the intensity in his shotmaking and the game goes to deuce. Yet the dip doesn’t last long. Two snorting forehands are enough for Djokovic to hold.
First set: Djokovic 3-3 Berdych* (*denotes server): Berdych is starting to have some fun, running around a backhand to rip an awesome forehand down the line for 15-0. He leads 30-0, only for Djokovic to fight back to 30-all. Will Berdych crack? Think again. He holds again thanks to a big serve and a glorious, sliding drop volley.
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First set: Djokovic* 3-2 Berdych (*denotes server): The first two points are shared. Then a Djokovic first serve is called out. He challenges. It clipped the line and Berdych looks like a man who’s just had his apple stolen. He shakes off the disappointment and wins the point for a 15-30 lead with a solid volley. Djokovic isn’t flustered, though, racing through the next few points and holding to 30. Still, if Berdych keeps serving well, he could force a tie-break.
First set: Djokovic 2-2 Berdych* (*denotes server): Djokovic decides to punish Berdych for that impertinent break, tormenting him from the baseline, making him run, forcing the forehand for 0-15. When the rallies are extended, Berdych struggles; another long battle ends with a backhand error for 0-30 and it’s notable that Djokovic is targeting his second serve. Djokovic’s resolute defence compels Berdych to go for broke and take risks, but going for the lines is a dangerous tactic. Another forehand miss makes it 0-40, three break points. Yet Djokovic misses a return and Berdych’s serve clicks into gear, two monstrous aces bringing the game to deuce. Berdych ekes out game point and another skidding ace sees him hold for the first time!
First set: Djokovic* 2-1 Berdych (*denotes server): Berdych rouses himself with a precise backhand pass down the line for 15-30, Djokovic mistiming his approach, but an unforced error makes it 30-all. Djokovic then deals brilliantly with a net cord, springing forward and prodding the ball from right to left. Berdych tries to go down the line again, but Djokovic reads it and he slashes a backhand winner away for 40-30. Yet the game goes to deuce and Berdych earns a break point when Djokovic nets a backhand - and Berdych breaks back when Djokovic nets a forehand!
First set: Djokovic 2-0 Berdych* (*denotes server): All too quickly it’s 0-40, Berdych tentative and nervy, the pressure telling, the mistakes piling up, Djokovic confident and in control. Djokovic keeps it attritional from the back of the court, always comfortable on the baseline, and Berdych eventually hoists a backhand long. It’s not taken Djokovic long to break.
First set: Djokovic* 1-0 Berdych (*denotes server): Novak Djokovic begins the serving and it’s an encouraging start for Tomas Berdych, who lands a fine pass to claim the first point, Djokovic stranded at the net. Yet he follows it three straight errors and Djokovic secures a snooze of a hold.
It’s time for the toss. Tomas Berdych chooses heads. It’s tails. The first defeat of the evening. Djokovic chooses to serve first.
A colleague has kindly bought me an apple. It could easily be the apple I bought downstairs, meaning the Guardian is now turning a neat 60p profit!
Here come the players. Neither of them appear to have my apple.
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Everyone else on the desk now thinks I’m having a breakdown. I’m getting looks.
I am writing this on a Mac, so I suppose there’s a small chance that could have happened.
@JacobSteinberg Maybe someone stole the apple, mistaking it for a phone, tablet or computer?
— Brant Hancock (@BrantHancock) November 19, 2015
A security guard has just walked past my desk and he didn’t seem that interested in my apple woe.
I did not eat the apple. I know it sounds like I ate the apple, but I did not have sexual relations with that apple that eat that apple.
@JacobSteinberg. Hahaha you ate the Apple and do not remember because you were concentrated in your wtitting
— Angela Yanes, (@aaayanes) November 19, 2015
I’m not making this up. Help.
I’m a little bit scared. Something strange has happened. I bought an apple 10 minutes ago and returned to my desk with it. It was accompanied on its journey by me, a plastic bag, a water bottle and a WHAM bar. I got back to my desk, put everything down, sat down, looked at my desk, looked at where the apple was supposed to be, continued looking at where the apple was supposed to be, carried on looking at where the apple was supposed to be, that is to say where I had carefully placed it, and then I took to wondering where the apple had gone. It’s not here. I hadn’t left my desk and it was not here and I am scared and someone please send some help. Everything else is here, including the WHAM bar. Can WHAM bars eat apples? Or was it a ghost apple? Or can an apple sprout legs and walk off when you’re not looking? I’ve retraced my steps and saw no apple. It’s not under the desk, it’s not in the bag and it’s not rolled over to someone else’s desk - there are only a couple of other people here. I’m really confused at the moment. I called my girlfriend in a flap and she assured me that it will come back, but I don’t think that’s how it works. She also suggested that maybe I stopped on the way here and put it down, but it’s not a particularly arduous journey, so I don’t think I would have stopped for a rest. Is it paranormal activity? Or I am I so repellent that even apples now flee from me now? WHAT IS GOING ON?
Preamble
Hello. Well, it had to come to an end eventually. Novak Djokovic had won 23 consecutive matches before he ran into Roger Federer on Tuesday night and found himself knocked off course by a classic performance from his Swiss adversary. Now he’s in crisis. Sort of. Kind of. A bit. A little bit. Fine, not really, he’s not in crisis, Okay, there’s the tiniest sliver of doubt about him reaching the last four of a tournament he’s won in each of the past three years, but he’ll only be out if he loses in straight sets to Tomas Berdych this evening and history suggests there’s more chance of Djokovic deciding to take up professional Tiddlywinks than that happening.
Djokovic has only ever lost to Berdych once in straight sets in case you were wondering, when they met in the Wimbledon semi-finals five years ago, and he has a 20-2 winning record against the Czech, who hasn’t beaten the world No1 since a 2-6 7-5 6-4 victory in Rome in 2013. Djokovic has won his past seven matches against Berdych, for the loss of only two sets, and he’s four for four against him in this tournament. Those are some intimidating numbers and Berdych is clearly going to have to play one of the best matches of his career to have any chance of going through. After Roger Federer’s three set victory over Kei Nishikori earlier, Djokovic only needs to take a set off a player who’s lost both of his matches to earn a semi-final spot against Rafael Nadal.
Play begins: shortly after 8pm GMT.
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